About Us

Careershifters is a ground-breaking service for anyone making a major career change, run by people who have done it. You could be an accountant who wants to be a polar explorer, or a salesperson with ambitions in journalism. Through a mix of affordable expert advice, resources and a community of thousands of people like you, we help you find out what you want to do and how to get there.

• What Careershifters will do for you
• How it all began
  
• Meet the team 

What Careershifters will do for you

Are you fed up of being stuck in a job that bores you to tears or stresses you out? Do you dream of having a job that you look forward to going to every day? Do you wish you could change career but don't know where to start or how to make the change?

Then Careershifters is here to help.

We aim to give you the confidence that you really can change career and have a job that you love, show you how to do it and offer support and inspiration along the way. We do this through:

• Our Careershifters' Guide - the no nonsense step-by-step guide to changing career successfully
• Our Careershifters London workshops
• Our soon-to-be-launched Careershifters Club
• Our website, which is packed full of free articles from some of the best career change experts in the business, success stories and resources

How it all began

In 2004 a group of young professionals - among them a business consultant, a charity PR, a designer, an eco campaigner, a career coach and a soon-to-be polar explorer - got together in a London pub with a problem to solve. We recognised that too many people were stuck in jobs that were making them miserable. Fear, finances, lack of confidence, not knowing what their options were and not knowing who or what to turn to for guidance were all holding them back.

We knew that people successfully changed career all the time and that changing career could be an exciting and rewarding experience but we also knew that it wasn't always that easy - it can be challenging, confusing and lonely at times. Whilst there was support and guidance out there, it could be difficult to find.

As career shifters ourselves, we also knew what it was like to be miserable at work and the difference it makes to your life when you finally have a career that you love.

And so we set off on a mission to find out the most affordable and effective way to help people make a career change and find the work they love to do.

Since then we have spoken to literally hundreds of people who have made successful career changes to become everything from antarctic expedition leaders, teachers, business owners, landscape architects, travel photographers, novelists, tree surgeons...the list goes on. We have picked their brains to find out their secrets to figuring out what they wanted to do and how they made it happen (even when many of them had a mortgage to pay and a family to feed).

As well as that, we've spoken and worked alongside some of the UK's top career coaches and experts to find out what guidance and support people need when they are changing career.

We have put everything we've learnt long the way into creating Careershifters... and we hope you love it as much as we do!

Meet the team

There are four of us on the Careershifters team who since 2004 have been working hard to create career change service that really works.

Careershifters is more than just a business to us - it's a labour of love.

Richard Alderson: Founder and the man with the plan
Previously a management and technology consultant, Richard made a career change to the social entrepreneurship sector in 2003. It was through his own experience of changing career that he recognised a gap in the market for an affordable, independent and web-enabled career change service. He brought together a team of like minded individuals to create Careershifters. Read an interview with Rich about why he started Careershifters and what his vision for it is.

Cath Roan: Managing Director and PR guru
Cath is responsible for the day to day running of Careershifters, keeping the team in order, as well as developing our plans for the future. Her background in PR and Marketing has also been useful, with Careershifters featuring in the Guardian, Independent, Time Out, Evening Standard, Metro and the London Paper.

Selina Barker: Content Director and resident career change expert
Selina is the ultimate career change cheerleader and a woman on a mission to find out the very best ways to guide and support people through the careershift journey. Get her started on the topic of career change and it's difficult to get her to stop. That's why we put her in charge of all the Careershifters content - from the website to the writing of the Careershifters Guide. Selina's own career path has been anything but dull - you can read about her career adventures on her Careershifters blog.

Neil Collman: Creative Director
Neil heads up the user experience and design for Careershifters. A web industry veteran and recent career changer himself (he recently jumped off the corporate treadmill), Neil is passionate about creating a unique and engaging web experience that can really help people make positive changes in their lives.

A few people we'd like to thank

There are many people without whom Careershifters would not be what it is today. There are too many people to name all of them here but they know who they are. We'd like to give special thanks to the following for all the help, guidance, support and contributions they've given us

Mark Leicester, Chris Dolder, John Alderson, David Gold, Holly Crane, Satu Kreula, Grace Owen, Dan Roan, Boo Armstrong, Sarah Arnold, Kate Atkinson, Oli Barrett, Celine Bellegarde, Jack Butler, Melanie Castles, Mary Chadwick, Devi Clarke, Gabby Cornish, Greice Costa, Marianne Craig, Holly Crane, Neil Crofts, Martha Cuffy, Sandra Deeble, Sarah Dodds, Paul Dunn, Jean Edwards, Steven Fine, Marta Garcia, Pascual Glauser, Marian Goodman, Rohan Gunatillake, Sarah Gwonyoma, Charles Handy, Elizabeth Handy, Eugenie Harvey, Neil Holdsworth, Mags Inglis, Andy Jackson, Peter Jackson, Richard James, Nick Jankel-Elliot, Rob John, Ritu Khanna, Vaidehi Krishnan, Satu Kreula, Mark Leicester, David Lethbridge, Carmel McConnell, Julia Middleton, Isobel Miller, Lisa Mitchell, Rachel Mulvey, Alberto Nardelli, Alma Neville, Michael Norton, Rich Potts, John Rafferty, Jonathan Robinson, Abbie Rumbold, Kati Rynne, Matt Scott, Grant Stapleton, Anthony Tabor, Jeremy Tapp, Brent Thomas, Pooja Warier, Susie Wheeldon, Heather Wilkinson, Nick Williams, Richard Williams, Emma Wodehouse, and everyone at UnLtd.